Juul Labs has agreed to pay North Carolina $40 million and change its business practices in the state.
Regulators and health officials have blamed the company for the surging popularity of e-cigarettes among teens in recent years. In 2019, federal data found that more than one in four high school students had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days, up from 11.7 percent just two years prior. As of 2020, that number fell to 19.6 percent of high school students amid greater regulatory scrutiny and the coronavirus pandemic.
“North Carolina is now the first state in the nation to hold Juul accountable for its instrumental role in creating a youth vaping epidemic,” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said at a press conference revealing the agreement on Monday.
North Carolina kicked off its investigation in 2018 and announced the lawsuit the following year.
This is the first of many lawsuits that will need to be settled. Plenty of $$$$ to settle, plus what they don’t do in the future via the USA – they have the rest of the world.
Same thing that big tobacco has done – focus everywhere else except the USA.
Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Ching!